KHUSRAW KILLS A LION OUTSIDE SHIRIN'S TENT

SAFAVID SHIRAZ, CIRCA 1560

Details

KHUSRAW KILLS A LION OUTSIDE SHIRIN'S TENT
SAFAVID SHIRAZ, CIRCA 1560
From a Khamsa of Nizami, gouache heightened with gold on paper, Khusraw sits cross-legged on a cushion in a tent as Shirin lovingly holds his arm, around them attendants, musicians and courtiers look on, above and below four columns with 2ll. of black nasta'liq between double green intercolumnar rule, the verso with four similarly ruled columns each with 19ll. of black nasta'liq, one heading in white naskh on gold illuminated ground, verso with later owner's sticker describing the scene, minor areas of flaking and scuffing, mounted, framed and glazed
Painting 7 5/8 x 6 1/8in. (19.4 x 15.4cm.); folio 10¾ x 7 3/8in. (26.5 x 18.9cm.)

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Lot Essay

The artist responsible for this painting is likely also to have completed illustrations for several other important manuscripts during the mid-16th century. The two most notable manuscripts with works also attributed to what is probably the same artist, are a Khamsa of Nizami in the Freer Gallery of Art dated 1548 (inv. 08.199) and a Shahnama dated to circa 1560 in the Art and History Trust Collection (Abolala Soudavar, Art of the Persian Courts, New York 1992, no. 98c, pp.247-48). Both of those manuscripts are attributed to Shiraz. Soudavar proposes that the finesse and detail of this artist's style - who he terms 'Artist A' - illustrate that he was previously a member of the Royal atelier.

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